Mary and I went to the Gospel Festival again last night (the Saturday show). Jeff joined us and we went to dinner at Mediterranean Wraps in Palo Alto (dishAdish reviews here). Mark and his sister, Sara, met us at the show. I was worried that this show would be mostly jazz, but that was not the case.

The first act was Jamie Davis, which was pretty much jazz. He was accompanied by a 4 piece band. I’ve seen him quite a few times before, sometimes with a much larger band. . He does a nice rendition of “What a Wonderful World.” They did 4 or 5 songs then took a break. During the break, another singer, Yolanda Rhodes, sang a few songs. She was accompanied by a pianist. She has an interesting singing style, sort of opera meets old time spirituals. She did a lovely version of “Ave Maria” (one of my mom’s favorites). Then Jamie Davis came back out to do a few more numbers.

Next up was Avery Stafford and a band of local musicians (including Mary’s two time CEO, Bob). Avery has more of a Christian Pop style. At one point he was joined by a long time friend of his visiting from Portland. The friend did this a capella version of a gospel song. It was sort of like Bobby McFerrin with the chest tapping and everything. It was pretty interesting.

The final group was Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. These guys were good. It was a pretty large group and they were well directed. They sang a few gospel songs backed by a band and a few old spirituals a capella. This was my favorite performance of the evening.

today Mary and I did some more yard work. We still have a ways to go before the yard is nice and clean. We’ve been watching the peregrines for a while and catching up with email and such. I also joined LinkedIn to help me fine old friends and colleagues. Maybe this will help me with any possible job searching I may do. My LinkedIn profile is here.